Guest Cancellation Policy Update

[Lizzie]

Hello Everyone,

A few weeks ago Airbnb made changes to what guests see when they book and what happens when they cancel a booking, those changes were discussed here on the CC.

You can read more about the changes in this Help Center article. We also want to open a thread here on the Community Center, to continue the conversation. We appreciate how important it is that our host community is informed when changes happen on Airbnb, even when those changes are for your guests.

What changed for guests?

The names of the cancellation policies themselves haven’t changed, so the policy you set—Flexible, Moderate, or Strict—will still show up for your guests. However, now when a guest makes a booking, they’ll see more information explaining the terms and refund cut-off dates for the policy you’ve chosen. We also changed Airbnb’s existing policy so that we now refund Airbnb guest service fees for cancellations, up to 3 times per year. This way, if a guest cancels within a fully-refundable window, the reservation—including guest service fees—will truly be fully refundable.

How will this affect me as a host?

This additional messaging for guests is meant to eliminate confusion about our cancellation policies and, ultimately, to encourage more bookings—especially for more flexible listings. The changes won’t affect refund cut-off dates, your payout, or your host fee. Guest cancellations are rare and we’ll continue to monitor this rate in light of the new changes.

Why did Airbnb make this change?

Through feedback and research, we’ve seen that guests often overlook the cancellation policy terms of the listing they book. This leads to confusion and frustration in the rare event that their plans must change. This added education is meant to help align guest and host expectations going into each booking.

I hope you find this information useful.

Thanks for your time.

Lizzie

[Bronwyn20]

Exactly what I'd like to see- I would like to offer a full refund but not up to one week out! I had guests cancel a long booking they'd held for almost half a year- and at the last possible minute to get their half back. Of course with people planning trips to our area months in advance, it went unfilled.  Also a way to pay the lost portion of the refund only should I rebook.

[Allison2]

@Lizzie, I'd really appreciate Airbnb's response on this:

When someone makes a booking, we have a contract. I promise to provide space in exchange for the agreed upon fee. I take that responsibility VERY seriously, both because of how it would affect my standing on Airbnb (I've held SH status every quarter since I had the volume to be eligible), but also because it's ethically distasteful to do mess with someone's vacation plans. Guests don't have any such issues. They don't have automated "guest cancelled 3 days before arrival" messages, and with these policies they may not even have any financial skin in the game.

This policy has no regard for how rentals in our local markets work. I live in an area with a short, but high demand tourist season. I open my calendar in January and by March every summer weekend is booked. But I get VERY few last minute requests, so a cancellation means money out of my pocket.

I have a problem with this "penalty-free 3x cancellations" and also with the extenuating circumstances policy. I understand that all kinds of misfortune could befall us, but why is the host the one suffering the financial repercussions? Why aren't guests encouraged to purchase travel insurance, which is the proper way to go about ensuring ones' vacation investment is held safe?

Airbnb needs to:

- tier the cancellation policy so that reservations held for months are treated differently from those made and cancelled in quick sucession

- investigate providing their own (or partner with an existing company) travel insurance to guests rather than relying on hosts to foot the bill for last-minute changes (whether honest or not)

- allow transparency in re-booking cancelled nights and refund guests only the amounts we're able rebook

These new policies put my income at greater risk than I'm comfortable with. I'm looking into other ways to market my property.

[Kelly149]

@Allison2 @Lizzie

allison, this is the best, most concise explanation I've seen on this topic. I agree wholeheartedly. Great thoughts that should be given heed

[Linda450]

@Allison0 @Lizzie @Kelly  The main points I see you (and others) bring up is that hosts are individuals with unique business needs and operations.  Therefore, we shouldn't all be thrown in the same pot.  I have always indicated my cancellation policy as "super strict."  I've been downgraded to "strict" and haven't found a way to change it on the listing site.

[Alexander179]

I had a discussion with a Canadian guest who booked for nine nights because he was visiting his parents in town. Just before checking in, he cancelled because he could stay with his parents. Because he did not call my Friend who would check him in as he promised, a discussion started Inwhich he said renting through airbnb is just bussiness and has not anything to do with decency

[Linda450]

The Canadian "guest" got Airbnb hosts mixed up with hotels.  Perhaps Airbnb is making this mistake as well...

[Colleen47]

I agree with many others here. It puts the host at a terrible disadvantage to have a strict or moderate cancellation policy. First of all " strict " has a negative connotation which puts the guest on edge to begin with. The host takes the risk holding a place for someone to cancel with no hopes of rebooking. I have had at least three cancellations this mo

[Thomas391]

Being new to the Air BnB host community, I had something happen that I need to understand the ramifications. Once they completed their trip from Pittsburgh to Baltimore, my guest decided not to stay with us and opted to stay with relatives that live in the same neighborhood (Cedarcroft-Baltmore). I received an email from the guest saying that they would like a refund and the only way to do that is for me to cancel the booking. I sent a return email agreeing to refund her charge. 

After reading so many threads about penalties for forced cancellations by guests, it seems there is an issue in the run-up to becoming a Super-Host. I will abide by any and all rules of the AirBnB host/guest arranged contracts, but sincerely hope that after all the time and expense spent to create a comfortable and reasonably priced location for guests, I won't be penalized due to a last-minute change of mind by the guest.

Thank you for allowing such comments to be made.

Tom Carson

Air Cedarcroft 1010

[Linda108]

@Thomas391  I am afraid that the automated system will not see the communication between you and the guest and you will be penalized for cancelling the booking.  You have a flexible cancellation policy and if the guest cancelled there are no penalties.  Look at the description of your cancellation policy and you will see that information.  Also, Air BNB will forgive the Air BNB guest fees as well up to three times in a year.  Bottom line there is no problem for guests to cancel but there is a big problem for you to do the same.

Hopefully your communication with the guest seeking to cancel is on the Air BNB message system.  That way it will support the assertion that the guest initiated the cancellation.  Contact Air BNB by phone as soon as possible and explain to the rep what happened and ask that any penalties be removed.  Here is the US phone number.  Keep it handy.  855 424 7262.  Good luck and let me know how this works out for you

[Thomas391]

Thank you for clearing this up. I have a copy of the guests request to cancel. She states that it is my responsibility to cancel in order for her to receive her money. This is a learning curve I will do my best to understand and adhere to. It looks like I need to do deep study of all the rules and regs.

Thomas,
The best way for us to receive a full refund is for you to cancel the reservations. With that said I'm respectfully asking you to cancel the reservation.
Thank you.
Lori

Again, my humble thanks! 

Tom Carson

[Christine1]

@Thomas391, @Linda108is pretty much on the money with her advice and explanation.If it is not you who wants to cancel, then it should not be you who cancels. if your guests wants to cancel, then that is what they should do. If they want a refund, that's a separate matter.

Guests are entitled to refunds in accordance with any cancellation policy- as it applies to their booking. Anything further can be at the discretion of the host.

The guests can send a special request via the Airbnb resolution tool, an automated email will be sent to you, asking if you agree to their request. You can agree or not. There is no significant penalty.

It is highly unlikely Airbnb would override your decision if you rejected the refund request. If you are rejecting a refund request, you will have an option to write an explanation to justify your decision.

This system works and I can say that I speak and write from experience in this matter.

Once you have dealt with this situation, the question you need to ask yourself is, if you have a policy that limits refunds some way, are you going to overide your policy any time someone asks you to return their money becuse at the last minute.......they basically got a better offer.

If you don't feel comfortable with your policy, you can to change it to one you are comfortable with. Or practice a few statements that are polite and respectful, and explain that the funds are held in trust in order to guarantee that you will hold the room for them, which you did. The other thing is for the preparation of the room and facilities etc,  I am confident you will find the words to suit. You can congratulate them on their change of plans and wish them well, let them know that they will recieve any refund in accrdance with the booking policy, but leave it at that.

Best regards and;

DON'T Cancel

Christine

[Thomas391]

Thank you so much for the message...very illuminating. I agree with everything and am only a bit confused as to the refund payout to the guest. We have a growing PayPal account to AirBnB deposit monies. The question I have is...does AirBnB transfer the money in quesiton (from guest who cancelled) from my PayPal account or do I simply send them the refund from my personal bank account? I hate to keep asking quesitons, but I want to do things correctly. Thanks so much for the information and host support.

Tom Carson

[Linda450]

@Thomas391I appreciate your asking all those questions.  I don't appreciate the confusion that Airbnb has created (yet again, in my experience).  Using an OTA (listing service) should be straight forward; it should be fair for guests and hosts equally; it should be something easily managed.  If it's not, then...I leave to each of us to what's best for us.  Signed, another Linda

[Linda108]

@Thomas391  I can share my experience, but since you are speaking with Air BNB rep, perhaps you can pose that question as well.  I have Payoneer and when I am notified from Air BNB of a payout, I get a notification from Payoneer instantly of receipt of funds.  I have refunded  a cancelled booking the rest of the money paid when I was paid the day of the cancelled reservation.  The refund was taken from my credit card, not from Payoneer.  Air BNB does not have authorization to take money from Payoneer, only from the credit card I have on file.  Make sense?

[Christine1]

@Thomas391,

Hi Tom the short answer to your question about how Airbnb refunds your guests is, once they send you funds, they will not dip into your bank account or paypal account to retrieve money. They will simply deduct the money from any future payouts. Keep in mind that you have given them your bank details so they can pay into your account. You have not authorised them to take money out. That's a completely different authority, that you have not provided to them as part of your signup.

it's one of the benefits worth keeping in mind when you hear people making comparisons to other web hosting services.

And if you sometimes notice that a payout is not what you expected, it could be due to something like this or a currency adjustment as money passes through different institutions.

Hope this helps to answer your question.

PLUS....

#: }

Read more information on this and other useful topics via your help centre icon on your site.

Airbnb Help

What does an adjustment on my transaction history mean?

An adjustment is an amount of money a host owes as a result of a cancellation, reservation change, or violation of our Guest Refund Policy.

To check the status of an adjustment:

1. Go to your Account Settings
2. Click Transaction History

Adjustments are automatically deducted from the next scheduled payout or payouts until the full amount is collected.

View this article in the Help Centre ›

Regards, Christine.